"X-MEN: THE LAST STAND" DOESN'T STAND UP TO THE LAST TWO FILMS

The title would have us believing this is the last chapter of the X Men movie franchise. Don’t let that fool you. If you stay past the end credits there are some hints to the contrary.

The question is how does this third movie installment of the Marvel comics series stand up compared to the original and subsequent sequel. Director Bryan Singer hasn’t returned for this episode and his influence that gave heart to the franchise is surely missed. In his place is Brett Ratner (Running Scared, Rush Hour), and I am not thrilled with the way he delivers the goods. Unlike Mission Impossible, which proved the third time was the charm; here the opposite proves to be true. It appears that Ratner concentrated on turning this X Men saga into an overblown, melodramatic action piece, at the expense of character development and rich story content.

There are so many new mutant characters in this film that most are underused and get lost in the storyline. Forgive me if I don’t name them all. But, case in point: At the beginning, there is a flashback sequence to introduce us to a tormented young boy, an obvious mutant who has shut himself in the bathroom where he is trying desperately to cut off the winged appendages from his back, in hopes of being “normal”, so his dad will approve. Later we find out that his father, Warren Worthington (Michael Murphy, who has not aged well), is the billionaire industrialist behind the development of the “cure”. What a great chance to build on Angel’s story. Instead, later when we see Angel (Ben Foster) all grown up, his one brief, shining moment comes when his extraordinary power of winged flight comes into play. I know I wasn’t the only audience member who saw great potential for this character that has little screen time.

In X-Men: The Last Stand, the relationship with humans and mutants comes to a head due to a cure that has been found that would revert the mutants into “normal” human beings. Ironically, it comes in the form of one of their own, a mutant boy (Cameron Bright) being held prisoner at Alcatraz, the headquarters of Worthington Labs and anti mutant forces. On one side of the fence is telepathic Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), leader of the X-Men who have been sworn to protect society from dangerous mutants, and Magneto (Sir Ian McKellan), leader of the Brotherhood that is comprised of mutant outcasts who are sick and tired of being persecuted for being different and not fitting in. While some mutants like Rogue (Anna Pacquin) who is unable to touch anyone for fear of drawing the life out of them, are desperate for a cure, other mutants are offended and outraged. Believing this to be the last straw, Magneto insights his group to join in the fight against what he sees as genocide and to rage war and eliminate the cure and anyone who supports it.

In Magneto’s control for use as a powerful weapon is Class Five mutant, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) who died in the last film, but has been (ridiculously explained) newly resurrected from the sea as the Dark Phoenix, the evil side of a dual personality with telekinetic powers capable of destroying anything and anyone. So it is up to the X-Men, whose team has grown to include Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page of “Hard Candy”), a young woman able to walk through solid objects, and Collosus (Daniel Cudmore), who can turn transform himself into steel, to stop Magneto in his tracks. An almost unrecognizable Kelsey Grammar (TV’s Frazier) also is on board as blue furred, intelligent, Dr. Hank McCoy/aka The Beast, the President’s Secretary of Mutant Affairs.

So there you have the essence of the storyline. Other returning stars and their characters include Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine, Halle Berry as Storm, Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake/Iceman and Aaron Stanford as John/Pyro. Gone by the wayside early on is James Mardsen as Scott Summers/Cyclops, whose demise I will not explain so as not to be a spoiler (why don’t any of the characters react to his missing?) and my favorite female mutant of all, Mystique, played by Rebecca Romijn. Darn, she was so cool as the beautiful, blue shapeshifter, who gets hit with the antidote. Oops, my bad. Anyway, I won’t reveal what happened to make her fall victim.

I had trouble overlooking the hammy overacting, absurd plot devices, below par music score, and continuity problems. Sure, there is plenty of high paced action and pretty good special affects, such as in the fight for mental control between Jean/Phoenix and Xavier that wrecks havoc to her home and has an even more devastating consequence, or Magneto’s destruction and relocation of the Golden Gate Bridge. But how did that sequence suddenly go from broad daylight to dark night. Add this to the “stupid boo boos list.

It’s easy to see the parallel between intolerance towards movie mutants and real people in our society who don’t fit into the norm. You fill in the category: religion, sexual preference, whatever. The message for all of us to live together in harmony is well and good. Been there, got that from the previous movies. Only now, a cure is being forced in the form of a governmentally used weapon, which adds a twist. Hmm. That’s something to think about; just not enough to strongly recommend this film, which just can’t hold a candle to the previous two. That’s my stand. The X-Men: The Last Stand? Trust me, we HAVEN’T seen the last of them.

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